The Regroup | Important Trends in Today’s Minor Hockey Defensemen

The best defensemen in our game today are the ones who defend with their feet, are aggressive in their own zone, and move the puck quickly and efficiently before joining the rush, getting a drop pass, and ripping a shot top shelf to win the game in overtime. Easy, right?

Well, if it was easy, then every defenseman would be PK Subban, but not even PK Subban can pull all that off every single shift.

So, the singlemost important trend in today’s defensemen, a trend you can teach to your defense as a minor hockey coach?

They work on their craft in practice.

3 To The Puck

The other day I was asked on twitter for a specific drill to help D-men and forwards pass the puck to low pressure areas in the D-Zone, specifically the front of the net. I’m going to share that drill on Thursday, but for today, I thought I’d share a couple clips of the Pittsburgh Penguins in their own zone. These clips are an example of what’s required by the defense and the forwards – you can’t break the puck cleanly out of your zone without close support from the forwards. Here it is, Pittsburgh and 3 to the puck: